A Peculiar Friendship
by Honbox122
Summary: Ruby's at the beach when she sees her sisters nemesis old heading somewhere in a hurry, so she decides to follow her and see where she's heading. (Post volume 3 with some volume 3 spoilers inside, you have been warned.)
1. Chapter 1

A.N. RWBY is owned by Rooster Theeth.

I slowed my car down with a growing sense of dread. Why did I agree to go to the beach without the others? I looked out of the tinted windows seeing all the activity going on outside my car. People were just milling around enjoying the beach to the best of their abilities, meanwhile I was sat in my car trying to put this off for as long as possible. Oh well I promised Blake that I would go outside instead of tinkering with Crescent Rose, or whatever I was doing at the time. It's strange that she was the one to tell me to go outside for once instead of Weiss.

I opened the car door slowly to try and shield myself from the burning heat for as long as possible before I stepped out into blazing sun. "Now that's not so bad," I thought to myself as I locked my car. Now I was faced with a choice, go sit in the shade by the promenade, or I could go sit on the beach surrounded by playing children which would get very boring very quickly. I of course decided to go sit in the shade like any sane person would let alone a shy one like myself.

The shade was a good choice. It let me sit and people watch while people just didn't notice me. I noticed many strange people go by me. There was a person in a suit who was flanked by a couple of tough looking people who appeared to be their bodyguards and there was a mascot for some cereal brand or something. I gave up on the people watching and I just looked up towards the clouds.

The clouds moved across the sky lazily reflecting the current mood I felt at the time. These elegant white puffs off condensed water really do seem to have an extremely calming effect on me. I'm not sure why, maybe it was just because how lazily they meander across the sky, as if they have all the time in the world. Any way there's one thing you have to do if you find yourself on one of vales smooth and sandy beaches and that is find one of the many ice cream stall dotted along the coast line and indulge in a lovely cone off ice cream.

My mission memorized I set out towards the nearest ice cream stand. The queue was surprising short considering both the time of day and the record setting temperature. Nevertheless the wait was still agonizing, given stalwart refusal to take off my crimson cloak even with the absurd temperature (So what if I get heat stroke, then I get to stay inside whilst being waited on by the rest of my team. It's a win-win.) When I got to the front of the queue, I saw a person that I would never forget for the rest of my life. This person almost killed my sister if not for the intervention of a mystic women.

This person was Neapolitan.

She hadn't spotted me, but she was heading somewhere at a rate of knots and when Neo is headed somewhere as quickly as her little legs can carry her it's generally for a reason. I decided, probably against my better judgement, to follow her as silently as possible (as to not be detected) to wherever she was heading.

It wasn't the hardest task to follow the pink haired illusionist, since not many people in this part of vale tend to have tricoloured hair and a bright white outfit. I made sure to note in my head what direction she's headed. I stalked her all around Vale. We went to the residential district, then to the commercial area and then finally back towards the warehouses. Neo stopped in front of one before looking to her right then her left before she entered. The door closed slowly so I had just enough time to slip inside before it closed entirely.

The insides of this warehouse were bland to say the least. Four walls and a concreate floor with several desks at one end and stacks upon stacks of wooden shipping crates at the other. There was also a strange lack of a certain pint-sized villainess. This was confusing to no end since I was sure that I saw her enter this premises and I didn't see her leave. Perplexed I turned towards the door with the intent to leave when I felt something snake its way around my left leg. I looked down to see a familiar black handle of an equally familiar umbrella. It owner pulled hard and I was sent falling towards the cold hard concreate.


	2. Chapter 2

A.N. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth.

I came too, tied to a chair I looked up and saw a highly peculiar sight. This was that Neo was sat on a chair opposite me with an inquisitive look on her face. I had to return this look since I had no idea why the tri-coloured miscreant had knocked me out and then proceeded to tie my unconscious body to a chair and then decided to sit and stare at me until I woke up, since all I wanted to do was see what the matter was.

Neo on the other hand was positively relived to see that see hadn't killed me and that I had finally woke up. She then got up and walked out of the room leaving me tied up. I took the opportunity to inspect this strange room and I came to the conclusion that I was no longer inside the warehouse and I was in fact in a completely different place. The room seemed to be themed the same as that minute villainess consisting.

It was a very simple room with the only furnishings being the chair I was tied to and Neo's chair being the only pieces. The walls on the other hand were a different matter entirely being bright pink to match the pint-sized rapscallion's hair, the floor was a nice brown carpet and the celling was white with a single light bulb hung from the centre of the room. 'This must be Neo's interrogation room' I thought to myself.

Several minutes past before Neo returned with a foldaway table and a pair of drinks. She first opened up the table before she set the drinks on top of it. She then sat down on her chair and faced me. "Why were you following me?" She asked in a soft voice that I could only just hear.

"And why should I tell you that?" I practically snarled at her.

"If I released your ropes would you tell me?" Neo asked gradually getting more impatient.

"Fine." I said and Neo walked behind me to undo the binds holding me to the chair. As soon as they were released I fired up my semblance and made a dash for the door. Suddenly something flew in front of my legs sending me flying straight into the wall.

Neo walked over to me with a disappointed look on her face. "Why did you try and run?" She asked looking down at where I lay on the floor, "Do you even know how to get out of here or how to get back to the beach?"

"Why do you think I tried to run? It's not every day that you get kidnapped by a criminal, not to mention someone who nearly killed your sister, for dusts knows what reason." I said

"You were following me and I wanted to know why and maybe get to know you as more than an enemy. Every Torchwick was killed I haven't had a friend in the world," Neo said sounding as thought she was about to cry, "But you quite obviously don't want to know me, so just go. You can call the police for all I care I won't keep you." I was taken aback by Neo's sudden change in personality. Had the last few years really been that bad for her? I stood up and against my better judgement, which was telling me to run and get the police, I wrapped her in a hug to try and comfort her, just like Yang did when we found out that my mum had died. Neo snuggled closer into embrace and started to cry. I started to stroke her hair to try and calm her.

We stayed like this for a few minutes before Neo pulled back from the embrace. "Why didn't you leave?" Neo asked with red and watery eyes.

"Well it would be against my huntress duties to leave someone crying." I said giving her a reassuring smile.

"Most people would just report me to the police, why didn't you?" Neo asked obviously still confused.

"Well I'm not most people and you need to stop asking so many questions and just except me being nice to you." I said playfully, poking her in the stomach to make my point clearer, "But before you do I have a question for you."

"Which is?" Neo asked perplexed.

"Why didn't you just stay with Cinder?" I asked.

"I never was a true believer. Roman was the only thing keeping me in the organization and with him gone I had no reason to stay. I already had enough money to sustain myself for the rest of my life." Neo said matter of factually.

"Well why didn't you become a huntress then?" I inquired, "You're obviously skilled enough."

"With my criminal record, I don't think I stand a chance, plus I'm too old to change now," Neo said.

"You're never too old to change, plus Ozpin is a fan of second chances."

"I still don't know."

"Come on it'll be fun plus I can see if I can get you sent on a mission with my team. We're third years now."

"Alright you've convinced me, let's go to Beacon and see if this Ozpin will let me in. It's not definite, but it's better than nothing right?" Neo said.

"Really, oh we're going to have so much fun together. I can't wait for you to meet, my friends. There's Weiss and Blake and Nora and Jaune and…"I was suddenly cut off by Neo shoving her hand over my mouth.

"Ruby we are going to have lots of fun, but remember it's not definite. For all we know Ozpin could call the police and have us arrested; me for being a criminal and you for helping a convict." I managed to remove her hand from my mouth and almost then practically yelled into her face, "But Ozpin won't do that. You see he's not like that. He even let me into Beacon two years early you'll see."

"I'm sure I will, but how do we get there?" Neo asked.

"Well if you take me back to the beach I can drive us there in my car." I answered exited.

"Well ok then." Neo smirked before we disappeared in a flash of white light.


	3. Chapter 3

A.N. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth.

I opened my eyes to see that I was stood by the ice cream stand where I first saw Neo except this time no one was around and it appeared to be late at night. Neo was stood looking at me with her hetrocromic eyes, obviously expecting something. I remembered that I was supposed to be driving us back to Beacon. We started walking over to my car. As walked in a comfortable silence, I was thinking what the rest of my team would think of and if Ozpin would let her stay. We got close to my car, so I unlocked it.

Driving was not my favourite activity, but then I can run faster than most cars can drive at top speed. Come to think of it why did I even own a car? I don't exactly need one. If I ever needed to get somewhere I could just get Yang to give me a lift on her bike. Mind you she was the one who bought it for me for my seventeen birthday and you can't exactly turn down a gift especially if it's a car. Anyway I waited for Neo to get in before I gunned the throttle and we shot towards beacon. Neo must have been a speed freak, because as I was weaving in and out of traffic looking boarded she was making varying types of happy noises from whooping all the way to cheering.

'She must really be enjoying this,' I thought to myself as I swerved around a truck. Beacon came into sight and I could feel that this journey was coming to a close. I drove around the back of the complex to the student garages. I saw where yang had parked bumblebee and pulled in next to it. The easy bit of getting to beacon was done. Now the hard part of seeing if Ozpin would let Neo stay here or if he would get the police to come are arrest him. Either way it was going to be a tense couple of minutes when we finally saw him.

We left my car in the car park and walked towards the main Beacon tower in silence. Beacon felt strangely deserted almost if people had heard I was coming with an Ex-criminal, but I hadn't told anyone that I had brought Neo back with me. I shot Yang a text on my scroll to tell her where I was and that I was OK. A few minutes later my scroll vibrated. It was a text from Yang. She was asking where I had been and when I'd be back to the dorm. I responded by telling her that I was back in Beacon grounds, but that I needed to see Ozpin about something. She replied by asking why and if I needed her to come with me. I said that it was fine and that she should just stay in the dorm for now. A few seconds later my scroll buzzed for the third time with Yang wondering why she should stay in the dorm. I figured that I would just make her angrier if I didn't tell her what was going on. 'Well Yang I'm going to tell the truth here and the truth is that when I was town I saw a person that you should remember. I saw Neo. She was heading somewhere really quickly so I decided to follow her. Events conspired which led me to learning that she had been out of work ever since the attack at the vital festival. I then managed to talk her into becoming a huntress so we're going to Ozpin's office to sort out the paper work and all that.' It took her a couple of minutes to respond and when she did it wasn't what I hoped for. All it said was 'This conversation is not over and I will be talking to the both of you when you get back to our dorm!'

"Oh Dust," Was all I could say when I read it.

"What's the matter?" Neo asked me. All I could do was give her my Scroll for her to read. She read the entire conversation before she shared a similar reaction. "What are we going to do?" I asked Neo.

"The only thing we can do for now. We're going to see what Ozpin says about me joining Beacon and then we'll cross the bridge with Yang when we come to it." Neo said with a smile. I couldn't help, but return it, as we carried on walking towards Ozpin's tower.


	4. Chapter 4

**RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth**

We sat in Professor Ozpins reception area in silence. I had asked his receptionist for an appointment and now we were just waiting to see if he would see us. He must have already had someone in his office as it was taking longer than it normally did. I turned to Neo, but she was reading one of the magazines provided for the people waiting for their appointment. Looking around the room,

I noticed that the room seemed similar to the waiting room at a vets with some slight differences. These were the fact that instead of having a collection of uncomfortable plastic chairs there were wingback chairs which were arranged in a lose semi-circle around a coffee table. The floor was a sterile looking white vinyl and the walls were the same stark white.

We had been waiting about 15 minutes when General Ironwood came storming out of the elevator up to Ozpin's office. He gave a nod of his head towards me and Neo a curious look before he walked out of the door towards the landing pads. "The Professor will see you now," The Receptionist said in a bored tone. "Thank you," I said cheerily before getting up and walking into the elevator with Neo. I pressed the button for Professor Ozpins office. The elevator accelerated upwards. The doors pinged then opened to reveal his office. "Ruby, what a pleasant surprise," Ozpin greeted.

"Hi Professor." I said.

"And hello miss…" Ozpin said obviously waiting for neo to tell him her name. Neo remained silent so I answered for her, "That's Neo Politan."

"Well Miss. Politan, what brings you to my school today?" Ozpin asked.

"I want to turn my life around," Neo said in a quiet voice.

"Ruby, you may leave the room," Ozpin said.

"If it's all the same to you professor I would prefer to stay with Neo." I said.

"Fine," Ozpin said, "Anyway Miss Politan, what would you be turning your life around from?"

Neo remained silent. "It's OK Neo you can tell him," I said as I moved to hold Neo's hand I my own. "I used to be an associate of Roman Torchwick, but after his death I've been aimless and unemployed. I made enough money when I worked with Torchwick that I didn't need to work. Then today I received a call on my scroll which told me to meet them in a factory in the warehouse district, so they could tell me more about Roman's death. They also said that they had the skills to bring him back. But when I got to our arranged meeting point there was no one there. At this point I knew Ruby was following me, so I captured her so I could talk to her and she convinced me to become a huntress, I teleported us back to her car and she drove us back here. Then we came here." Neo explained

"Now I know where I recognise you from," Ozpin said, "and if team RWBY's past reports are correct then you should have the correct level of skills to be equivalent to a student in their third year at Beacon, so I have no qualms about letting you join team RWBY if that is what you want."

"So, you're not going to throw me in prison?" Neo asked quietly.

"Now why would I do that? I am a firm believer in second chances. Now answer my question Miss Politan." Ozpin said.

"If it's OK with Ruby then I would like to join team RWBY." Neo said looking at me.

"Of course it's fine with me Neo. Now let's go and get you settled in." I said flashing Neo a smile. "Thank you Professor," I said to him as I turned as I got up to leave.

"It was my pleasure," Ozpin said as we left. We boarded the elevator and rode it back down to the ground floor. I sent a group text to all members of team RWBY saying that team RWBY had a new member. Weiss was the first to respond by asking who this new person was and why wasn't she consulted first, Blake didn't really care and Yang just wanted Ruby to get back soon. I told them that they could talk about it when I got back and Neo and I started walking back towards my dorm.


	5. Chapter 5

RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth.

I knocked on the door before opening it. Neo followed me, looking smaller than ever. Yang Weiss and Blake were all lined up between the two sets of beds. Yang's eyes immediately turned crimson when she saw who was following me. "Why is she here?" Yang asked, her voice laced with venom. To Neo, it looked like she was having a hard time trying to resist snapping the tri-coloured villainess in half. "Yang this is our new teammate, so I expect you to respect her," I said. This almost sent Yang berserk. "Why is she our new teammate?" Yang shouted her hair ablaze. This caused Neo to try and hide behind me.

"Well, I found her in vale and she was all alone. I brought her back to Beacon and we talked to Ozpin and he let him become a member of team RWBY,"I explained.

"Shouldn't it be team RWBYN now?" Blake asked.

"Good point Blake," I said.

"Why weren't we consoled first?" Weiss asked.

"Sorry Ozpin's orders and we can't go against them," I said.

Neo then stepped out from behind me. "If my presence upsets you three then maybe I should just leave," She said to me timidly. With that, she turned and left. "Look what you three have done." I shouted at them, "She was our new teammate and you three scared her off!"

"She tried to kill me," Yang shouted back.

"That was over three years ago, so get over it. Since then we've defeated the white fang, taken back beacon and stopped Salem. I mean look at yourself Yang; you've got a new arm. Now I'm going after her to bring her back and you three had better be nice to her when I get back." I shouted at them. Sprinting out of our dorm, I called Jaune on my scroll as I knew he was getting back from town. He picked up after one ring. "What's up Ruby?" he asked.

"No time Jaune. I need to know are you still on the airship back to Beacon?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well once you've landed I need you to do something for me. There's a short girl heading towards the airships with pink, brown and white hair. You can't miss her. What I need you to do is make sure she doesn't leave Beacon."

"Sure Ruby."

"Thanks, Jaune," I said hanging up. 'Now to find Neo' I thought.

Several minutes later.

My scroll pinged. It was a text from Jaune which said he'd found Neo and that he was at landing pad 3. I sent him a quick thank you before I activated my semblance to get there quickly. When I arrived I saw Jaune holding Neo trying to hold Neo back. "Neo!" I shouted. She stopped struggling and turned towards me. I walked up to her. "I'm sorry for how my team behaved towards you and I'm here to bring you back to our dorm."

"Ruby I thought I was clear when I said I was leaving."

"Well, I won't let you."

"Why. All I'll do if I stay is have Yang at my throat."

"I've already told her to get over it and if she still gives you trouble then I'll talk to her again. Now let's go," I said to her extending a hand to her. She took it and started to follow me back to the dorm. "Thanks, Jaune. I'll make it up to you," I shouted over my shoulder to Jaune.

When we arrived back at our dorm the rest of team RWBY were having a discussion. They didn't even notice that we were back. I clapped my hand to draw their attention to us. "Now, Yang don't you have something to say to Neo." It was clear that this was more of a statement than a question.

"I'm sorry Neo," but Yang said through grit teeth.

"And?"

"I forgive you for nearly killing me."

"Good now that's done Neo would you like to introduce yourself?" I asked her.

"Well, I don't know what to say. My name is Neo Politan. For the last three years, I've been alone with no one in the world. That was until this morning when I met Ruby." Neo said.

"And how did you meet my partner?" Weiss asked.

"She was following me and I sort of knocked her out to talk to her," Neo said sheepishly.

"WHAT!" my three teammates shouted.

"It's fine, it's fine. We just talked and I found out she had been alone for the last three years so I decided to bring her back to Beacon," I said to reassure them. "Now anymore question?"

"Where will she sleep?" Blake asked.

"Well she can sleep in my bed and I'll sleep on the sofa until we get her a bed if that's ok with her," I said turning to Neo.

"Are you sure? I could sleep on the sofa since it's your bed," Neo said sheepishly.

"Yes, I'm sure. You're our new teammate, so you should be comfortable and it should only be for tonight so I'll survive, "I said looking into her eyes.

"Well if you're sure," Neo said. I turned to the rest of my team and asked "Any other questions?"

"Yeah I have one Ruby," Yang said, "How do we know she won't kill us in our sleep?" She was obviously still angry at the entire idea of Neo being on our team. "Well, Yang if it will set your mind at ease you can go and ask team JNPR if you can sleep in their room tonight," I said tired with her actions towards Neo. Yang then grabbed a sleeping bag and stormed out of the room. I turned to my two remaining teammates and said: "Two can go and join her if you like." They both shook their heads. "Good, now since it's late I think it would be best if we all turned in for the night," I said. Blake and Weiss then started to go through their nightly routine whilst Neo just looked at me. It then clicked in my head that she didn't have any night clothes so I turned to my wardrobe and fished her out my spare pair pf pyjamas. "These might not fit you very well but they're the smallest ones I've got,"

"Thank you," Neo said

"No problem." I said making my way towards the light switch, "Goodnight Team RWBYN" I got three different goodnights back. With that, I switched off the light, made my way to the sofa and fell asleep.


	6. An important notice

**Hi guys,**

 **I know you were probably expecting another chapter since I don't do the whole AN thing,but this is just a notice to let you know there is a poll up on my account which would really help me if you answered it. This poll will be up for a week, so get your votes in quickly. You see I'm at a crossroads with this story at the moment and I would appreciate it if you helped me out. Remember to leave feedback as it really helps me see where you want me to take this story and keep being awesome.**

 **Ryan**


	7. Another note

**Hello,**

 **I know many of you may have been expecting another chapter, but I'm afraid this isn't it. This is, in fact, a notice you let you guys know that the poll is now closed. with the results in I can now tell you that 'A Peculiar Friendship' will now become a shipping fic. The results were 3 saying yes and 1 person said no. I shall now start working on the new chapter so I will see you then.**

 **Ryan**


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